Kathmandu, Sept 2:
Nepal has launched a diplomatic campaign seeking climate-related compensation from major greenhouse-gas emitters after devastating flash floods, arguing that assistance to vulnerable countries facing climate disasters should be treated as a matter of moral and legal responsibility rather than charity.
Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal said Nepal contributes only a negligible share of global greenhouse-gas emissions but is suffering disproportionately from global warming, including rapid glacier melt and increasingly severe mountain disasters. He said Kathmandu was shifting its approach from seeking conventional aid to demanding “justice and compensation”.
“We are paying the ultimate price for a global crisis we did not create,” Khanal said, pointing to rapid Himalayan glacier melt and catastrophic mountain floods as consequences of climate change. He said Nepal would raise the issue firmly at international forums and seek compensation for climate-related losses suffered by vulnerable countries.
Khanal identified China, the United States and India as the world’s three largest greenhouse-gas emitters and argued that they have a historical responsibility towards vulnerable countries such as Nepal. Kathmandu has formally sent a climate compensation claim letter to international partners.
Nepal has also approached the board of the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage, seeking urgent financial assistance following the catastrophic flash flood in the Bhotekoshi river basin on August 26. The mechanism was established at COP27 in 2022 and became operational at COP28.
A letter jointly signed by Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle and Forests and Agriculture Minister Geeta Chaudhary said the disaster had caused widespread loss of life, displacement and destruction of homes and critical infrastructure. Nepal said the full economic and non-economic losses were still being assessed but had already exceeded the country’s immediate response capacity.
Officials said Nepal was seeking an urgent response rather than waiting for the next scheduled meeting of the Loss and Damage Fund. The government argues that the disaster demonstrated how extreme events in fragile Himalayan river systems can rapidly affect communities, infrastructure, water supplies, energy, food security and human safety downstream.
Khanal also warned that the consequences extend beyond Nepal. He said the disappearance of Himalayan glaciers could threaten the water security of more than two billion people in South Asia who depend on rivers originating in the region.
India, for its part, has consistently argued for climate equity and pointed to differences in historical emissions, development needs and per-capita emissions when discussing climate responsibilities. New Delhi has supported efforts to address loss and damage in vulnerable developing countries while maintaining that developed nations should provide adequate financial resources.
Nepal’s demand is likely to add momentum to the broader global debate over climate finance and responsibility for loss and damage. For Kathmandu, however, the issue has become increasingly urgent as the country confronts more frequent and destructive floods, landslides and glacier-related hazards.